Field of 13 applicants from USA,?Canada narrowed to five

June 11, 2013

MARQUETTE - A new Marquette Electricians Midget AAA head hockey coach could be named by the end of the week.

Brad Sullivan, chairman of an 11-member committee that helps run the Electricians, said Monday formal interviews will begin today with the five finalists for the position vacated by Mark Nebel last month.

"We'll have one interview (today), one Wednesday and three Thursday," Sullivan said. "A couple of the candidates will be interviewed by telephone.

"We'd like to have someone picked before Saturday, the sooner the better. It's starting to push summer now and the new coach will have to start recruiting some players."

He said there were 13 original applicants for the position that were whittled down to the five finalists.

"It's the most (applicants) we've had," Sullivan said. "We had a lot of people apply from both the United States and Canada.

"We have strong applicants with playing and coaching experience. One is from the Upper Peninsula."

Nebel, 47, resigned after two seasons guiding the Electricians due to his increased responsibilities as general sales manager for Escanaba CBS television affiliate WJMN (Channel 3), the sister station to WFRV-TV (Channel 5) of Green Bay.

He led the Electricians to a 33-23-11 mark in 2011-12 and the regular season Northern Lakes Hockey League regular season title before going 9-32-10 last season.